Okanagan College restaurant returns to in-person dining

• In-person dining back after only cooking for take out
• Special Valentines Day week menu available

After a two year hiatus from in-person dining, Okanagan College’s campus restaurant, Infusions, is ready to re-open.

Culinary arts students are ready for an authentic kitchen experience, as for the past two years, the restaurant has operated solely with take-out service, in addition to providing meals for the OC Serves Up program.

Culinary arts student, Shiloh Marriott, told Kelowna10 in person-dining helps spark her passion for cooking.

“For me, personally, the point of cooking is the people. So if it’s not in-person it kind of defeats the purpose in my opinion,” Marriott said.

She added food is something that people all have in common.

“We want to connect with people through our food, and that’s why it’s super important for Infusions to be open.”

In-person dining helps with the experience of the food, according to culinary arts student, Claire Lind.

“There’s less opportunity for us to actually experience how it is to cook when there are no people coming,” Lind said.

Without customers dining in the restaurant, she questioned how they are able to get real experience.

“You can’t see their reaction, they can’t enjoy their meal hot,” Lind said.

Her favorite part about cooking is seeing people’s reaction when they eat the food.

“You can put the simplest things together and then feed it to someone, and then seeing their reaction… and they’re like ‘woah,’” Lind said.

The campus restaurant has planned a special Valentines Day menu that will be available from Feb. 14 to 18. The menu offers three courses for $50 per person, with wine and cocktails included.

“The menu is definitely a lot more fine dining than I ever expected in a PC1 culinary school,” culinary arts student Chase Holman said.

He added the menu contains entrees with lingcod, a beef tenderloin carpaccio appetizer, as well as a variety of desserts like Crème Brûlée and sticky toffee pudding.

“It's really an all around amazing menu to be honest,” Holman said.

According to Holman, in-person dining is everything for the restaurant.

“It’s not the same when you just get it in a to-go box and you put it in your car for half an hour driving home,” he said. “It’s insanely important having it on the plate, being inside a restaurant - the environment, the music, the people.”

He urged people to come down to the restaurant so the aspiring chefs can “feel the pressure.”